Jade Has a Mind of her Own

In the park opposite the industrial estate this morning, Jade nearly gave me a heart attack. Normally she goes off lead as soon as we hit the park and is as happy as Larry on the paths and the grass, under the trees and in the bushes. All I have to do is keep an eye out for when she does her business so that I can scoop it. Often we meet other dogs and their walkers and do some socialising, but this morning it was quiet and noone was about.

It was windy though, and as the normal path is waterlogged and very muddy, I walked along the bank by the road. We've done that countless times before and Jade has never gone onto the road. We have our share of litter louts and today there was a drinks can rolling around in the road as the wind caught it. I saw that Jade was interested in it so I called her to me and we turned off away from the road. Suddenly though, her curiosity got the better of her, and she whipped round, down the bank and across the road to sniff this can, with me screaming at her to come back.

She was actually back in a jiffy, and thank goodness there was no traffic, but my heart was hammering away nineteen to the dozen. "Never do that," I said sternly, and realising she'd done something wrong, she sat down in the grass in front of me and looked up at me with those big, appealing eyes.

"Are you sorry?" I asked her, and she lifted up her left paw for me to hold. Of course I had to make a fuss of her after that. But I didn't feel like going any further so we turned for home and she got a shorter walk than usual.